Back the Blue Rally Organizers Give Officers $1,500 in Gift Cards

Organizers of a Back the Blue rally in Asheville, North Carolina, presented officers with gifts Monday to help boost morale.

“Let the police officers know that protect and serve us every day that their community loves them and there are so many people in the community that feel the same way,” said organizer Ed Brown, according to WLOS.

Local officers received numerous letters, posters, and $1,500 in gift cards, the outlet noted, adding that the gifts were collected by participants of the rally that took place Saturday in Buncombe County.

At the event that began in Swannanoa, organizers said its purpose was not political but to show support for officers in the Asheville Police Department, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, and the State Highway Patrol.

“I’m seeing that our law enforcement agencies are being demoralized,” Brown said, adding, “We can talk about defunding and all of this kind of stuff, but is it defunding or is it training and other kinds of things we can do for our local law enforcement?”

The Trump administration would increase funding for law enforcement and reject calls to defund the police, Vice President Mike Pence told host Alex Marlow on Tuesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily.

Pence continued:

We’re not going to defund the police. We’re going to fund law enforcement. We’re going to back the blue, even while we work to improve public safety and improve the lives of all of the families in our cities, all of the minority families, African American, Hispanic American, and every family impacted by the scourge of violence that’s frankly gone on for too long in too many American cities.

In Tampa, Florida, over the weekend, volunteers painted a Back the Blue mural on the street in front of police headquarters, according to Breitbart News.

“This is a very visible, very big statement that says we are here. There are many of us,” said organizer Kelli Campbell whose group Back the Blue Florida helped with the artwork.

“We care about you. We care about you going out every day putting your life on the line for us. We support everything that you are doing, and that we know that the majority of law enforcement are good people,” she concluded.